


The ties that bind

by NaraMerald



Series: Clusterf!ck [1]
Category: Bleach, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto, Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types, Sense8 (TV), Teen Wolf (TV), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, I almost had Liam and Ichigo, References to Tentacle Porn, Same cluster awkwardness, Stiles is a Sensate, Tasteless Jokes, This was supposed to be crack but somehow it isn't what happened, Trigger warnings: blunt but brief descriptions of violence, Trigger warnings: discussion of exactly how much Sasuke needs so much therapy. So much., canon typical drug use and abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-05-26 10:25:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14998877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaraMerald/pseuds/NaraMerald
Summary: Oh, you know. Just snippets from the most insane cluster in the multiverse.Stiles: The ties that bind.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I challenge Sense8 fans - give me your best cluster! (I thought of a few different options, but ultimately decided on this lot!) 
> 
> Timelines:  
> Stiles - post nogitsune, post-deadpool, pre-dread doctors.  
> Orihime - post Las Noches, pre- all that quincy/echt shit.  
> Klaus - post Ben's death, pre- Reginald's death and Number 5's return  
> Hermione - 6th year?  
> Sasuke and Sakura - Post Sasuke leaving, post Tsunade returning  
> Kyouya - let's just leave it vague and unspecified, shall we?
> 
>  
> 
> Note: The original fan-cluster lacked Klaus. Having watched The Umbrella Academy, I have now included Klaus.

**Sasuke**  
When Stiles connects to Sasuke, his first instinct is revulsion, his second that he’s going insane. He sees the demon with glowing red eyes murder someone in cold blood, and it feels too close to the Nogitsune for him to do anything but step back, hands up, ready to fight. The flash of surprise in those eyes throws him though, and in the next second, it’s over. Also, was that a knife?!

It takes Stiles a long time to accept he’s seemingly losing his mind, weirdly enough it was almost more uncomfortable and confronting when he realised he wasn’t… that his… cluster… actually existed. He knows now it’s reality. And he, better than anyone, knows reality can be stranger than fiction. He lives with _werewolves_ after all, sharing his mind and his reality is just par for the course now. Sasuke though, he didn’t exactly introduce himself in the best way. (Stiles wonders, has Sasuke ever introduced himself in the best way? Not a super sociable dude, Sasuke.) 

He’s seen more of Sasuke now, though. He’s seen the bleak cast to his personal quarters, his creepy ass boss. He’s seen the way Sasuke fights, burning with anger, but no real passion. He’s seen him cast off all bonds, and he didn’t understand at first, not at all. Sasuke doesn’t seem to have anything to live for, and it’s very sad, in its own way. 

But Stiles sees the confrontation with his brother, with his two friends, that determination and that blinding tunnel vision, fuelled by pain. He starts an evidence board, (tells his father it’s for an RPG), and nearly shrieks when he wakes one night to Sasuke in his bedroom, staring at it blankly. 

“Jesus Fucking Christ Sasuke!” He pants, not exactly calmly. (Sasuke tried to kill him once. They’re not in the same world, as far as either of them can tell, and it didn’t work, but Stiles isn’t the kind to forget a knife to his face. Or forgive.) 

Sasuke stares, stares as if his eyes can burn holes through the evidence board. Stiles has a sinking feeling when he sees the note Sasuke is staring at. _“Who/What is ‘The Massacre’?”_

Sasuke’s face is completely impassive, but the breath he lets out through his flared nostrils is anything but. The look in his eyes is not at all impassive, and Stiles feels his heart skip a beat.  
“When I was a child, I returned home to my clan, brutally murdered. My older brother was disembowelling my mother in our living room. Then he tortured me, taunting me about my weakness, and left the village. We are the only two members of our clan alive.” Sasuke says flatly. 

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Stiles opens his mouth to say something - _What the fuck can you say to that though?_ but in the next second, Sasuke is gone. 

After that awful revelation Stiles struggles to get back to sleep; he’s gonna chalk that one up as “entirely unsurprising”, but it gives him time to think. Stiles struggles with the questions; Sasuke abandoned his village, wherever it was, and Stiles has such a love-hate relationship with Beacon Hills. He feels simultaneously like it’s home, it’s pack, it’s loyalty and friendship and he can’t leave it – but also like it’s ashes, like regret, like duty that he never asked for, that trapped him within its grasp. Sometimes he fantasizes about making a clean break – leaving, studying, living a normal life… 

It was fine before the nogitsune. But after the nogitsune, it feels like everything is tainted. Here, he’s like Sasuke. That park? Sasuke used to play Ninja, with his brother. That park? That’s where he sat, alone, and crying, unable to wash the invisible stains of blood off of his hands. That school? That’s where Stiles went, where he laughed with Scott, flirted with Lydia. Where no one realised he was trapped in his own head, screaming and screaming with no one to hear. Oh yes, there are a lot of places, soiled, places that make him feel dirty, used and hopeless. Places that have broken him into pieces, and the edges won’t ever fit perfectly back together. So yeah, people were pissed, clearly, but Stiles can understand why Sasuke left the village. 

He understands, in time, Sasuke’s frustration. Stiles wouldn’t have made those same choices, but then, Stiles hasn’t had to. But he understands the frustration of not seeing the bigger picture… of missing the pattern. He understands the burning fury of betrayal and the pain and despair of everything being _wrong_. He sees Sasuke’s isolation. Deliberate or not, the looks follow Sasuke. (That _The Last Uchiha_ bullshit suddenly makes a whole lot more sense). The whispered comments, the steps backwards – the only bonds Sasuke had seem to be broken and he truly has no one. When he sees his old friends, his ex-comrades, they look at him scathingly and see him as evil. The people in …Sound? The people there, flinch when they see him coming, bow before him, tell him what he wants to hear before scurrying out of his way. His brother… Stiles doesn’t even dare allow that thought to form, considering he’s mentally linked to Sasuke. Stiles has no concept of these ninja, so fast, so lethal it’s like some awful form of magic. 

Stiles isn’t stupid. He sees the side-eyes his friends give him, the way they have to push themselves to hang out with him, the way they’re on edge, and tense. He knows they’re waiting for the nogitsune to return. The only reason he can even attempt this farce of normalcy is because everyone knows it’s a farce. Because they’re thinking about the nogitsune, they’re not questioning the moments he’s influenced by his cluster. They’re not looking at him too closely, because they’re seeing Allison’s death when they look at him. They’re right to do so. 

Stiles and Sasuke, they’re alone. 

Stiles tenses briefly as the door downstairs opens, relaxing when he hears the familiar sound of his father’s footsteps, and sighs a little into the darkness. Similarities, huh? When Stiles thinks about what he would do to someone who killed his father… 

Suddenly, Sasuke doesn’t seem all that alien, not anymore. 

**Orihime**

Stiles’ immediate, obvious first thought when he sees Orihime is _Lydia_. He’s utterly, completely wrong. Despite their gorgeous red manes, Orihime is like chalk to Lydia’s cheese. Orihime is… well, she’s strange. She’s not really book smart, or into research, far as Stiles can tell. And… he’s pretty sure that her cooking is… random. She’s sunny and chirpy, which is the last thing Stiles feels like at the moment. 

He doesn’t understand at first; it comes in dribs and drabs. There’s the alter, she still keeps for her beloved brother. And her empty house. The whispered comments at school about her “time away” are a warning, and the way her friends seem to tense up when it’s mentioned. The smile she forces onto her face as she talks about her “holiday”. 

This time, he’s the one visiting at night. He’s pacing, in his room, and suddenly he’s with her. She’s staring out of the window of her apartment, into the night. It’s quiet, somewhat balmy in her town, wherever she is. The window is open, but there’s hardly any breeze. 

“It reminds me,” she says, “of when I was a prisoner.” 

Stiles freezes, trying to work out what to say in response. There have been hints that not all was well, but he doesn’t know… 

“They kept me captive to force my friend to come to them. They wanted to kill him, and destroy this city. _He_ wanted to take over the world,” Orihime says quietly. She stares out at the night, and Stiles for the life of him can’t understand. She looks melancholy and almost… regretful? 

“You must understand, he was trying to kill us,” she begins again, after a pause. 

“The one who was trying to take over the world?” Stiles probes. 

“They all were. But no, my captor. Ulquiorra san.” She looks out again at the night, and Stiles understands without really _understanding_. She’s clear that Ulquiorra was fighting her friends, threatening her… trying to kill them. But she regrets his death all the same. Stockholm syndrome? 

Theoretically, Stiles understands. But he feels no regrets at all for the nogitsune. None. He’s back in his bedroom, and the weather is cool, but he opens the windows and stares out at his street, at Beacon Hills. Then, he closes his window, lays in bed, and hopes he won’t dream.

He sees her again, the very next day. There’s no sign of the young woman who stared into the night with the weight of the world on her shoulders. She mixes up some sort of awful concoction, chatters excitedly to her friends about an upcoming Karaoke competition, and pulls out her math book, checking her sums. He watches her, throughout the day, and he sees a difference. It’s not just a mask, this happiness. It’s a determination – to come back, day after day, and reclaim what’s hers, to live her life. It’s perseverance. 

She surrounds herself with Tatsuki, her best friend, and Chad, her rock. The others come in peripherally – the boy with the glasses, the loud one, the… Ichigo. Ichigo brings her great joy, great love, and great pain. 

Stiles mimics Orihime and reaches out to his friends. To start with, it’s not Scott; it’s his dad and Malia. His dad is always his number one, and he’s so grateful to have this chance. While he never wanted to put his dad at risk, it’s so good not to have to lie to him anymore. Malia is so black and white she’s easy to be around because for her, it’s simple. Stiles and the nogitsune were completely different, so there’s no problem. She doesn’t have to worry about Stiles, because Stiles wouldn’t hurt her. And if the nogitsune comes back, she’ll rip his throat out. She’s alarmingly clear about this, which shouldn’t comfort him as much as it does. And like Ichigo, Scott brings him great joy, great love, and great pain. Trying to reclaim their friendship is hard. But like Orihime, he’ll take each day as it comes, and he’ll persevere. 

**Klaus ( & Ben)**

Stiles doesn’t know what to think when he turns around and sees some random lying on his bed. He’s dressed – or… not dressed- in a pair of tight black briefs and what is undeniably a scruffy red feather boa. His makeup also looks like it has seen better days. 

“Hello there!” he says breezily, as if it’s perfectly normal to be lying on Stiles’ bed in his underwear. Stiles is going to take a giant guess and assume he’s one of the “invisible people” only Stiles can see. (Yep, he’s going insane. This is bad. Still…) 

“Hey,” Stiles replies, a little non-plussed. “Nice uh… boa,” he offers. 

“Thank you! It’s so hard to get a nice feather boa these days. Just doesn’t seem to be in fashion, you know? Such a shame,” the man says blithely. 

“Klaus, by the way,” he waves a hand. While they’re doing the obligatory introductions, Stiles marvels at how simultaneously similar and dissimilar they are. Mouth running a mile a minute? Check. …Quirky… sense of humour? Check. Plenty of blustering? Double check. A flexible sense of fashion, and an appreciation for nice women’s clothing? Check. Being comfortable in who they are? Check. 

Suddenly Klaus frowns, muttering “Fuck.” Stiles is a bit taken aback. 

“Fucking… apparently I bust in on living people now, but I can’t take the whisky with me…” Klaus grumbles. It’s weird phrasing, sure, but Stiles is still thinking about the Whisky. Klaus is definitely underage. 

Over the next few times Stiles sees him, he puts together an unfortunately clear picture of Klaus’ life. He’s got 6 siblings, an absolute asshole dad, a creepily perfect mum, and is rarely sober. Like, almost never. 

“Why?” Stiles asks him once, seeing the lows when the drugs wear off, the hangovers. He wants to snarl at the constant snarky remarks and bitching statements his siblings drop about his “uselessness”. Stiles thinks of Jackson, Derek and Lydia and how they used to look past him and brush him off, underestimate him. Stiles sympathises deeply with Klaus – he doesn’t understand why Klaus uses, but he hates the way his siblings treat him. 

Klaus, being Klaus, chooses not to explain… not exactly, anyway. 

“You’ve got a great memory, right?” he slurs. “Remember this…” he insists, and rattles of a string of numbers and letters. 

Stiles is pretty annoyed to find a Youtube clip of the 6th Sense. He gets the distinct feeling he’s been rickrolled, as he watches Hayley Joel Osmond whisper “I see dead people”. At the time, he’s mostly annoyed at how damn long that URL had been to try and remember. 

But about a week later, he realises “number 5” isn’t just a nickname, that Alison can literally rumour things into existence and Ben is an actual tentacle monster. And yes, Klaus can actually see dead people. 

“Fuck,” Stiles says with feeling. 

“Yep, it suuuuuucks,” Klaus says, as he pops another pill. Stiles, having already seen enough awful-as-fuck deaths and awful-as-fuck-things-in-general in his short life understands completely. He’s just about ready to start experimenting to see what else could theoretically shut off Klaus’ abilities when… 

“Yo, is it Ben?” Stiles asks. Not only is Klaus lounging on his bed today, there’s an Asian guy he’s pretty sure is Klaus’ brother, standing in the corner looking exasperated. 

“You can see him?!”  
“You can see me?!”

“Um, yes, and yes,” Stiles asks, surprised by their reaction. Like, isn’t that what they do? Sometimes Klaus wears more or less clothes, but generally he shows up and like Sasuke and Orihime, no one else can see him. 

“What happened?” Ben asks Klaus.  
“I don’t know! It must be a side effect…” Klaus shrugs exaggeratedly. 

“Should I… not… be able to see you?” Stiles asks Ben uncertainly. Klaus, surprisingly, looks away. Ben looks grim. 

“Well Stiles, you see… Benny here, is dead,” Klaus says bluntly, and in a tone that seems humorous, but with a twist to his expression that speaks of jagged pain. 

Stiles shoots a look at Ben, who looks away awkwardly. Stiles immediately understands… Klaus’ power… 

Ben was alive last time Stiles dropped in so… this must be recent… 

Stiles stays silent, not sure what to say. 

It’s awkward. 

“Well Benny boy, at least you’ve got some new friends who can see you!” Klaus says with forced brightness. Stiles thinks of the times he’s joked to hide his pain and feels a deep sorrow for Klaus and Ben. 

“You take what you can get, I spose,” Ben replies, attempting a comeback, and Stiles has to give him points for trying. He’s obviously pretty gutted at his death. 

Stiles thinks of a joke – maybe he shouldn’t but…

“Does this mean it’s too early to make references to tentacle porn?” he asks plainly, fingers crossed that the joke will go down well. 

To his relief, both start laughing. 

“I knew there was a reason you were my favourite!” Klaus grins. 

(Stiles can’t _wait _for Klaus to meet Sasuke.)__

__

____

**Kyouya**

Kyouya is a tricky one too. Kyouya is simultaneously easy and difficult to see links with. On the surface, Stiles sees right through him; others don’t, but Kyouya has spent a lifetime trying to shadow others and blend in by hiding in plain sight. Once you have your eyes on him though, Kyouya’s not so hard to work out. His strategy is less a desire not to be noticed, and more simply the recognition that most people are lazy and indeed do not look beyond the surface. 

When he looks though, he sees a lot of commonalities. Kyouya is the man behind the scenes, the brains of the outfit. He’s the one that quietly predicts actions, even the craziness that is the Hitachiin twins, and begins making the plans. That’s all Stiles, except Stiles isn’t rich. Yeah, that’s a small difference between them and how they can set their plans into action. 

They wear masks. They’re opposite, true, Stiles the joker and the fool, Kyouya the shallow and heartless. One thing that Stiles knows, partly instinctively, partly because he’s seen Kyouya in action, is that they have a core of steel. They’ll do what is needed, and sometimes that hurts. For Tamaki, for Scott to live in the light, sometimes hard decisions need to be made from their shadow. He thought Scott understood; thought the shock of losing Alison would finally shake Scott off of his pedestal, but Scott remains determined not to take life, something Stiles one saw as a strength he now considers a fault. 

Mercy doesn’t come for free; it’s a weakness, and in the business world and the supernatural, you pay for it in blood. There are always sharks circling, and Scott’s a werewolf. But Stiles is human, and breakable. When he stands out the front of his jeep he tries to make Scott see, the reason, the reason why he can’t trust anyone… 

“BECAUSE YOU TRUST EVERYONE!” Stiles explodes, smacking his hand against the car engine. Scott, he just waits calmly, and holds out his hands, takes Stile’s physical pain… 

“He’s going to get someone killed,” Kyouya comments, off to the side, unseen. The car lights come on, and Stiles wants to cry for a moment. 

“Maybe you,” Kyouya adds coldly, and turns, walks away. 

It’s a long night, the harshness of the guilt and the anger hardly mitigated by Liam’s awkward “Uh, can I go home now?” 

He drops Liam off and he knows he won’t be able to sleep, so he thinks back on the puzzle that is Kyouya. It takes him a while, and he wants to laugh a little when he realises their other commonality is passion. Most wouldn’t think it, Kyouya deliberately cultivates an aura of being distant, removed, professional. But under that is a drive, separate from money, or power (though those secondary motivations came into it later) which was that for some insane reason, Kyouya _likes business_. Stiles doesn’t understand the passion, but he does see the use, but then Kyouya doesn’t exactly understand passion for evidence boards an detective work so much as his skills and their utility. 

“We’re in the same world, you know,” Kyouya mentions, out of nowhere, looking as casual as he ever gets. 

“WOAH WHAT THE FUCK?!” Stiles yelps, and just manages to avoid falling off of his chair. 

“Mieczyslaw Stilinski, son of Noah and Claudia Stilinski, born in Beacon Hills on…” Kyoya drones on while Stiles grows more fascinated. 

“You could have just read my mind,” Stiles points out after he pauses for breath, though after the Nogitsune the idea of mind reading still unnerves him a bit. 

“Perhaps, but my private investigators couldn’t,” Kyouya pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, holding up a paper report, and Stiles has 1000 questions – does he want to meet? Who is he? His crazy friends exist?! Why tell him now?

The last question makes him look up. 

“I know nothing about the supernatural. And I’m not putting my friends and family in danger because yours are too foolish to draw the line,” Kyouya says bluntly, and gee, if this is supposed to be comforting, it fails. It fails hardcore. 

“But if anything happens…” Kyouya says pointedly, looking downstairs as if he can see through the floor, to where the Sheriff is pottering around, getting himself a glass of whiskey, “…if something happens, I’ll take care of him.” 

Stiles doesn’t regain his voice before Kyouya takes a step sideways and disappears. Stiles’ mouth twists into a smile that’s really more of a grimace. While hardly ideal, it’s more of a promise than his other friends have made. 

**Hermione**

Hermione is the easy one to figure out. They’re supernatural bros, but they’re not in the same world. At least, her werewolves seem very different to his, but half of them are still trying to kill everyone, so in the end, maybe not? 

But Hermione is a through and through nerd. Just like he tried to find out about Sasuke, Stiles is thrilled by Hogwarts. The evidence board gets a real workout and he and Hermione spend 3 hours straight debating which house he’d be sorted into. He knows nothing of her world politics except that they’re insanely complicated and also pretty fucked (not as fucked as Sasuke’s- it’s pretty hard to top that.) He knows nothing of her famous best friend Harry and her annoying best friend Ron. The girls in her dorm seem… awful. And he’s already having nightmares about accidentally visiting them while they’re changing.

But the debate was fierce – they agreed early on that he wasn’t Hufflepuff material, which narrowed it to Ravenclaw, Gryffindor or Slytherin. At first Hermione wanted to discount him from Ravenclaw, until she remembered a girl nicknamed Looney (which doesn’t seem to bode well for Stiles’ general mental health but…). Musing to herself she muttered that Ravenclaw wasn't just about book smarts, but a passion for learning. Stiles- well, his is more of an obsession – from his ADHD, he chooses something that interests him, then flings himself headlong down the rabbit hole, chasing after it. 

In the olden days, it would have been clear cut – Gryffindor. But he’s come too far and lost too much for that to be an easy, default answer for him. He’ll charge to the rescue, but not blindly, without a plan. He’s the one rescuing the morons who charge in blindly. And he’s got a solid sense of revenge, and preventative actions. 

He thinks captain biased – Ronald – would look at him and say he has to be Slytherin. Occupation by the nogitsune has left its scars, more caution, at times outright paranoia, resentment, guilt – the whole gamut of negativity, honestly. He’s less trusting, takes longer to laugh and smile… he’s not willing to give the benefit of the doubt, and he’s not taking any shit. He knows what he’s made of now, knows what he can take, knows he can withstand punches… knows how to kill people. Has killed people. 

But it can’t simply be Slytherin either, as if that idiot (Ronald) is right when he thinks Slytherin means “bad”. He’s cunning, he’s a planner, he’s a strategist. And yes, he’s ambitious, (he’s starting to think “survival” is looking increasingly ambitious) but call him crazy, he _knows_ he could be a good detective. Hell, he could be a _great_ one. The problem with assuming he’s a Slytherin, is that he does what needs to be done. Sometimes that’s bad, like asking hard questions, like reminding people that maybe they should take an opportunity to ensure Peter Hale does not return to them. Even so, sometimes what needs to be done is crashing a jeep through a wall to deliver your crush to their true love, or charging into an insane battle you’re likely to die in, to drag a group of dumbasses to safety, or treading water for an hour to keep a deadweight asshole alive. That, unfortunately, is not terribly Slytherin of him. 

“Maybe you are a Ravenclaw?” Hermione offers, but they’re both annoyed, feeling like they’re putting him there because they can’t choose between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It irks them. Then they get caught up with a different debate – that the sorting hat only divides students, not unites them, and honestly? In school setting, while he loves the houses, Stiles thinks it should be banned. He can see the little things Hermione can miss in the hall, and not being biased towards a house, he sees the great gulf between Slytherin and the other houses, the bullying from the brave and sneaky alike, the way the Hufflepuffs are written off despite their determination. Hell, if they were basing his house on his lacrosse efforts, maybe Stiles should be Hufflepuff. 

He enjoys Hermione’s reaction to their beastiary, she enjoys his mocking “Swish and FLICK Ronald, jeez” comments, especially when Ron is being a right asshat (or “prat” he should say. The English… psh.) He loves her cross “Really!” mutterings when his friends hold back on something that is blatantly obvious, and treasures her “Well, they really should have seen that coming. It isn’t as if you didn’t tell them…” mini-diatribes, and in turn, shows his appreciation because he knows the hard work that goes into all her research. (And the hard work that goes into not strangling the other two, honestly, he has no idea how she puts up with them, sometimes.) Sometimes she just wants to reach through him and shake Liam; she gets the worst mother hen instincts around him and seems genuinely put out not to be able to nag him. 

Also, science… Hermione’s school doesn’t do that, so she genuinely appears to be trying to attend some of his classes – mainly science. She’s a little creepy with her suggestions for science based weapons – Molotov cocktails were the very least of it, but Stiles is completely on board. Science bros forever. (He asked for a secret handshake, but Hermione just sighed, and with an expression reserved normally for Ron, said “Honestly Mieczyslaw,”, and then got distracted by something at Hogwarts and disappeared. It’s extremely odd, the number of his cluster calling him by his real name. What’s with that?)

Hermione, out of all of them, has the most problems with Sasuke, and of course, Sakura. 

**Sakura**

It’s just his luck to end up in a cluster with two borderline mortal enemies. Well, it’s not that simple, it never is. Far as the rest of them can tell, Sasuke and Sakura grew up in the same village. The shit hit the fan, Sasuke left. Well, that’s a bit harsh. Sasuke’s entire family got murdered, Sasuke got tortured, no one in their batshit insane village has any idea of general wellbeing and Sasuke went a bit mental, Sasuke stomped all over his friend’s dream for power. 

Shit on a stick, it’s hard to watch this damn soap opera. All of them understand loyalty; between them, they’re probably some of the most loyal people you could find (excepting Sasuke, of course). The thought of betraying Scott, Lydia, Derek, Liam, Tamaki, Ichigo, Chad, Rukia, Harry, Ron… it’s unfathomable. That loyalty extends even to the Umbrella Academy, as much as Klaus' fucked up family annoy them all. Their code is that they have each other’s backs. Sasuke didn’t have Sakura’s, or Naruto’s. The loyalty to the village, that’s a little more complex. None of the rest of the cluster’s national pride extends to murdering children on their nation’s behalf. And therein lies the rub – the “hidden villages” are horrific concepts. 

The rest of them simply don’t get the lifestyle, the culture. And perhaps because of that, it’s easy for them to see- Sasuke’s been totally fucked. Expecting him to be any kind of normal is an exercise in failure. How could he have possibly grown up healthily when he was tortured, basically abandoned by his village except for unwanted fame, and been raised with that kind of military framework? What did they think was going to happen there? (Klaus has been particularly loud and insistent about this, which neither Sasuke nor Sakura appreciates.)

(Naruto’s insane tolerance, love and happiness is definitely the exception to the rule, and to be honest, the whole cluster is mad-worried about him too. The glimpses they’ve caught have been heartbreaking. Neji is another all-kinds-of-fucked-up. What the hell have their leaders been _doing?_ )

So they kind of sympathise with Sakura, to an extent. But they don’t feel that betrayal, because unlike Sakura, they can’t even begin to picture what they’d be like, growing up in his shoes. Dead, maybe. But something in Sasuke is undeniably broken – some ability to connect to humanity, to be able to interact normally – that’s gone, maybe forever. He stomped all over her heart, but that’s again not surprising. Sasuke simply wasn’t able, let alone willing, to make the kind of connection Sakura wanted. He made it clear and she wasn’t listening- they were kids, but that one wasn’t on Sasuke. He wasn’t obligated to return her feelings, as much as it hurt hers. 

That’s the bad news- Sakura reacted undeniably poorly to Stiles saying “Well, why should he have stayed?” when she mentioned his defection. Yes, “poorly” was indeed an understatement. Stiles winces when he thought of the people she’d taken that frustration out on. (He saw the aftermath of Klaus' comments to Sasuke when Klaus suddenly ran into Stile's classroom screaming "HIDE ME!")

She then didn’t talk to him for a month, and he knows things with Hermione went even more pear-shaped. Tactful, Hermione is not. But slowly Sakura came to understand it more, probably at least partially through witnessing how fucked up the Hargreeves siblings were ("They didn't even give number 5 a NAME?!" Hermione's shriek was unmissable). While Sakura came around a bit, this sentiment did not make it through to Naruto, nor did Sakura bring it up with her ninja friends. 

There is good news though: They’ve all quietly decided to just treat it like it was a bad breakup. This has lead to such wisdom as Stiles imitating relationship counsellors “You are better than this! You are ready to move on!” which has Sakura doing one of three things: binge eating, screaming out slogans and then punching things and laughing derisively at herself. There has been some drinking. (Klaus has been doing a lot of drinking, while Ben says things like "This is a bad idea..."). Sakura is fascinated by their world, unlike Sasuke. She too finds it unfathomable – Stile’s school is so boring, the working world so… menial. His people are so old… and everyone is basically defenceless. She’s absolutely unimpressed by their military, their spy movies, and generally speaking, their martial arts. 

Sakura gasps at their technology, freaks out in the cinema (she honestly can’t watch it properly without a thousand precautions, between the shifting light, the loud noises, the unsafe positioning, the multiple strangers it’s really a ninja’s nightmare.) Sakura also laughs at Stiles trying to sneak into places and being carded, because she’s been an adult in her village for quite a while now, and that – Stiles tries not to think of that too much honestly, because it makes him feel old, tired, jaded and sad. 

Sakura’s the one he ends up with when he and Klaus go out drinking – Stiles convinces her to shot with him and then they dance… well, they give it a go, then they try to wake Klaus up and get him home. She tries to get Stiles and Hermione to run with her, absolutely futile, slows down to a civilian crawl, and they sit on the Hokage monument and watch the sun rise. Kyouya utterly refuses. Stiles takes her to a lacrosse game, where they sit on the bench, and she tells him all the ways he could take players out, like going for the backs of their knees. Orihime cheers for the wrong team. Sakura sits mystified in his jeep, while he sings car-aoke, he takes her to Taco bell and she goggles at the food. 

“How did you get over Lydia?” She asks him slowly, one time. 

“What I wanted… I had her on a pedestal. It wasn’t really her I wanted, and she didn’t really know me. It’s like a book- once you start to notice the plot holes, everything else begins to fall apart. That and… I was sick of wanting someone who didn’t want me in return,” Stiles admits. 

He can see this resonates with Sakura, but she just hums and turns back to the courtyard she’s surveying from the roof. Through Stiles and the others, Sakura has a crack in the unquestioning devotion towards the military dictatorship. She’s still 100% behind her mentor, of course, and from the bits and pieces he’s gleaned about her world, Tsunade could be the best of a bad bunch. But Sakura’s taking a quiet double look at the elders, at the system. She’s quietly gathering information to try and critically analyse her village’s leadership. From an outsider perspective, there’s a hell of a lot wrong. Sealing a freaking demon in a _baby?!_

Sasuke’s not about any of this learning or societal reflection. He’s holding on to the goal “Kill brother” and nothing will stop him, not even living his life, or happiness (if he’s even capable of it). Stiles chooses to believe he is, that he will eventually get there. 

One thing has changed for the better – Where originally Sakura and Sasuke resolutely avoided each other originally, now they have a distant, more amicable relationship. Sasuke still looks constipated when he sees her, but when none of Sakura’s passionate declarations are forthcoming (love, anger, betrayal, friendship or otherwise) he begins to relax. They’ve even gotten to the point where they can nod at each other. 

Sakura in turn, helps Stiles. She takes him out on runs, and coaches him through them. He’s… ok there hasn’t been a super noticeable difference. He doesn’t have muscles still, and he still sucks at lacrosse. She’s also helping Hermione, and reluctantly, Kyouya, with self defence. Orihime was the one who asked for it, though. (Orihime sometimes asks Sasuke for tips. For some reason, she seems to actually like him.) And Sakura talks to Stiles about being a phoenix and rising from the ashes of her former self. 

“I was weak,” she spits, glaring at the ground as if she could go back in time if she stares with enough regret. 

“So I changed. I got better, and I forced everyone around me to acknowledge I wasn’t that little girl anymore.” She walks around his room, staring at the evidence board which now says “Signs Theo is out to kill us all”. She stops and looks at him, expression unreadable. 

“You’re not that boy anymore Stiles. You’re a man.” 

It should be cheesy. It’s not. She says it with the severity that settles low in his gut, as if she’s reading fate rather than discussing his personal growth. It’s with some pleasant surprise he realises he’s referred to it mentally as “growth” rather than “abject trauma”. 

He looks back at his evidence board, and for a minute, all of the cluster stand around him, staring at it. 

“I don’t trust him,” Stiles says, and he feels their agreement. 

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Sakura asks. 

Hermione grins, and chimes in with him “Research!”. Stiles actually grins, and moves to get started.

He’s rising from the ashes. He’s a new man.


	2. Mismatch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When 7 other people can wander in and out of your life and your head at any moment, there’s bound to be some awkwardness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word of warning to those who read the first chapter a while ago - there has been a change! I added an extra two characters to the cluster - so if you didn't know Klaus was in the cluster, you might want to go back and re-read chapter 1.
> 
> Also, did you guess the correct cluster parent?

When 7 other people can wander in and out of your life and your head at any moment, there’s bound to be some awkwardness. 

“Oh! Stiles!” Orihime gasps, and turns around. Stiles immediately looks away, trying distract himself from the image of Orhime in a bra burnt into his mind. That smooth, creamy skin might haunt him for a while

“Hel-lo!” a voice calls. 

“Klaus!” Orihime yelps, as Klaus just brazenly gives her the thumbs up. 

“I’m… I’m gonna go now…” Stiles winces, makes a sort of vague gesturing motion with his hands and then “leaves”, mentally wanting to crawl through the floor. He’s just lucky this time he actually was able to leave. (He hasn’t always been able to.) 

~*~

 

Then there’s Hermione’s fight(s) with Ron. Stiles finds himself and, oddly enough, Sasuke, standing in her school. Sasuke is obviously accustomed to Hogwarts enough to be just wary, rather than on edge. (Stiles has seen him on edge, it’s not pretty.) Stiles still thinks it’s super cool that she lives in a literal magic castle, but he’s soon distracted as he sees Hermione talking to Harry outside of their common room. 

“Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations,” Hermione says bitterly, and Stiles winces. He looks to Sasuke for a split second, then wonders why he bothered. Sasuke is just standing apathetically like a statue. 

Harry looks like he wants to be anywhere but here, and to be honest, Stiles wishes exactly the same. Hermione hasn’t noticed them yet because they’re standing behind her. 

The door opens and Stiles can see horror on Harry’s face. Ron stumbles out with a girl – Lavender, her name is, and Hermione thinks she’s an utter imbecile. There may be a teeny bit of jealousy there. 

Hermione stalks past them both and Harry sighs a bit in relief. Fool. Stiles actually sees Sasuke roll his eyes at Harry’s obliviousness even as Hermione yells out “Oppugno!” and an actual flock of birds flies out to attack Ron. 

“Gerremoffme!” Ron yells, but Hermione spins on her heel. She notices Stiles and Sasuke and stiffens, but this only appears to make things worse. With a last glare at Ron, she walks through the common room portrait doorway and then slams the painting behind her. 

“Well… that went well,” Stiles says brightly, ignoring the portrait’s chiding and Ron sputtering “Mad! She’s mad!” 

When he turns around Sasuke has already left, without a word. Fine, be like that. 

~*~

He really doesn’t want to be there when Sakura is literally torturing a man. 

“What the fuck Sakura?” he screams, _feeling_ the blood splatters and Sakura flinches, accidentally cutting even deeper into the man’s leg. 

“Sakura?” her team leader asks, noticing. 

“Sorry, just had a bit of a surprise,” Sakura glares at them as she partially heals the wound. 

“Oh fuck, fuck,” Klaus is here, and he sounds like he’s about to throw up. Ben, who’s normally with him now, looks pale- even paler than usual. Surprisingly Kyouya’s also here, equally unhappily. 

Sakura creates chakra blades and runs them through the enemy guy. He makes no sound, but the sweat beading on his forehead, his clenched teeth and his grimace somehow make it worse. 

“I want to leave now,” Stiles says quietly, trying to summon the presence of mind to leave. 

“We have to concentrate,” Kyouya grits his teeth and tries to look away. The man on the table jerks and they all feel the blood splatters again. A person’s blood. Torture. 

“YOU CONCENTRATE!” Klaus shrieks, choosing to bob down, cover his eyes and sing loudly. Stiles would ordinarily be intrigued by Ben’s (admittedly sickened) exasperated look towards Klaus, but he’s a little busy literally- 

Aaaaand he just vomited on his kitchen floor. 

“Wonderful,” Kyouya grumbles, but without real intent. He too is shaken. 

Stiles stares at the floor blankly. 

“You need a bucket?” He asks Kyouya. Kyouya shakes his head, then stops abruptly, looking ill. 

“What do we do, Kyouya?” Stiles whispers, and sees Orihime has joined them in the kitchen, looking solemn. He can’t reconcile that part of his (soul?) … him – not the nogitsune – him, is capable of this kind of deliberate, pre-meditated violence.

“What do we do?” he asks the room. No one responds. 

~*~

Kyouya walks in on him. 

“Oh… I…” 

“JESUS KYOUYA!” Stiles screeches, frantically halting his movements under his covers. 

“Stilinski I…” Kyouya actually appears to be blushing. 

“Get out!” Stiles cries. 

“I’m trying!” Kyouya growls, more of an accent than usual coming through. 

Stiles surreptitiously wipes his hands and then awkwardly straightens the covers. 

“So… how’s about that local sports team?” Stiles says. 

“Stilinski…” Kyouya grinds out through his teeth. He sounds a bit like Derek, Stiles muses awkwardly. 

“So…” Stiles moves to get up. 

“Stay there!” Kyouya yelps. 

Yep, Stiles nods to himself, that’s probably a good idea. 

“Walked in on anyone else lately?” Ooh, Stiles could probably work on his ‘awkward moments’ babbling. He has just enough time to see Kyouya look at him incredulously when finally, _finally_ he abruptly disappears.

The one good thing, Stiles observes later, is that at least the shock and embarrassment made his hard on deflate pretty damn quickly. In hindsight, Kyouya is also probably one of the better people who could have walked in on him. Orihime seems too innocent to tarnish and Klaus would never have let him live it down. Ignoring how awkward it would have been to have Ben along for the ride, Klaus might well have joked about joining Stiles and then Stiles would have had to try and decipher whether the offer was genuine.  
Sasuke… Stiles hasn’t seen him show any sexual interest, and he’s not sure whether Sasuke’s asexual, its due to the trauma, or he’s just missing weird ninja orgies. Hermione… oh that would have been filled with awkward “It’s natural” comments. He can picture her, a 60 year old trapped in the body of a teenager, offering him a pamphlet on "You and your body" and making horrifically embarrassing comments about "urges". Nope, that's nightmare fuel right there. And Sakura… well, normally she’d probably have been the top of his list, less because he’s attracted to her and more because of her attitude – he just doesn’t think it would be a big deal for her. 

Except now that’s the problem. They all knew Sasuke was fucked. They knew things went super south and he did horrible things without batting an eyelid, that he had no idea of normal and he didn’t have the same in built breaks to stop him from crossing lines. 

But Sakura seemed normal. Sakura joked with them, laughed with them. She was curious about their worlds. They _identified_ with her. But Sakura didn’t have the same lines as them. The writing was on the wall, but they hadn’t wanted to read it. 

No, Stiles did not want to see Sakura. He wasn’t ready to see someone who could torture someone else so readily. 

~*~ 

“You’re angsting,” Sun says to him gently. They’re in what looks like a deserted café somewhere in… Myeongdong? 

“Well, yeah,” Stiles waves his hands. “We all are,” he says, and notices Hermione, Kyouya, Klaus (and Ben) have joined him. He’s guessing they’ve got the same thing on their minds as him. 

“All of you?” Sun asks, calm but pointed. Well, true, but he hardly expected Sakura and Sasuke to show. But oddly… Orihime… she’s not here, and he would have expected her. 

“How can I reconcile this? After the nogitsune… I… I have to reject that my soul is capable of that…” Stiles chokes a bit as he remembers the splatters of blood, warm on his skin. He looks to their cluster-mother, who stares calmly back. In the short time he’s known Sun, he’s never seen her as anything but composed, with a side serve of amused or determined. 

“Mieczyslaw,” she begins, and even as he sighs at the name, he can see the corners of Hermione’s mouth twitch upwards. Why do they all insist on calling him that?

“Mieczyslaw, who said that Sakura was a part of your soul?” Sun asks gently, and Stiles instantly stops thinking. 

“What?” Stiles asks blankly. 

“What?” Kyouya and Klaus repeat, Klaus’ jaw dropping, though Kyouya keeps a better poker face. 

“But- but then how can we see each other?!” Hermione demands impatiently. 

“You’re connected,” Sun says simply. 

“Oh, that’s real helpful ma,” Klaus drawls, a mixture of humour and gentle insistence to his tone. 

“It would be nice for you to go into a bit more detail,” Kyouya adds crisply. 

“Your souls are connected, true,” Sun says, “But that doesn’t mean you share a soul.” 

“We’re not… we don’t…” Stiles mutters, struggling to make sense of it all. 

“It makes sense that there would be different types of connections,” Ben murmurs to Klaus. 

“Hey, does this make Ben your… nephew?” Klaus asks Sun. Sun and Ben stare at each other. Stiles knows Klaus is about to make a crack about them both being Korean and… 

“So… we’re not the same person,” Stiles confirms. 

“No, you’re not the same person,” Sun turns back to Stiles. 

“Aunty Sun?” Klaus nudges Ben. He can’t help himself. 

“Why not?” Sun shrugs elegantly, with a smile to Ben, who shakes his head at Klaus. 

“How does it all work?” Hermione asks, and Kyouya leans in to hear. 

“I think this is something for your siblings to hear too,” Sun says mildly, and suddenly Sasuke, Sakura and Orihime are taking up seats at the table. 

Sakura glances around, assessing, and then takes a seat next to Orihime. Kyouya’s poker face doesn’t waver, Hermione on the other hand winces slightly. It’s clear that Sakura knows some of them have been avoiding her. She looks into Stiles’ eyes defiantly. Stiles meets her eyes. After the nogitsune he’s not afraid to draw his boundaries. He’s not ashamed of saying that he’s not willing to be party to torture. 

Surprisingly, Sasuke takes a seat next to Sakura. Stiles wouldn’t go so far as to say he supports her, but it’s clear that he’s drawing a line – that he won’t be held back by their morals. Klaus breathes in heavily next to him, and Orihime meets his eyes, supremely unconcerned. He can only guess that for whatever reason, agreement or not, she has resolved just to take her cluster-siblings at face value, odd culture and all. He supposes Hueco Mundo would have been a big culture clash – maybe this isn’t so strange to her. 

As they all settle down and stare awkwardly at each other, Orihime turns her bright gaze to Sun. It’s now he sees that Sun isn’t that much older than them – although she always comes across as so confident. (Stiles can’t wait to meet her cluster, truly.)

“How’s detective Mun?” Orihime asks Sun casually, and wait, who?

“Who is that?” Hermione asks, equally bewildered. Klaus, Kyouya and Sakura all give a variation of a “Yeah, who is it?” nod.

Shockingly, it’s Sasuke who answers “Her boyfriend.” 

“What?! We have a cluster-daddy and I’ve never met him?!” Klaus cries. 

“And Sasuke has?!” Kyouya mutters. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll introduce you to him after. But first, we need to have a talk about family, and your cluster siblings. You come from different cultures, with very different beliefs. You can’t change that, but you don’t have to participate in it. Our first priority is learning to choose what you share with each other…” Stiles sits back, listens to Sun. 

Watching her calm determination and mediation, he thinks for the first time that maybe everything will be ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm temporarily back! Work has been kicking my ass so... I make no promises about any updates but enjoy this!

**Author's Note:**

> So... who do you think their cluster parent is? Hint: It's a Sense8.
> 
> I challenge Sense8 fans - give me your best cluster! (I thought of a few different options, but ultimately decided on this lot!)


End file.
